Manon Harnois crafts a volatile, seductive choreography of space in Não Faz Mal, blurring boundaries of intimacy and estrangement at Galeria Foco, Lisbon.
Her work reimagines space not as a static entity but as a charged relational field—a volatile architecture of desire and restraint, intimacy and estrangement. The exhibition probes the delicate tension between physical structures and emotional undercurrents, creating a labyrinthine terrain where the viewer becomes both the pursued and the pursuer.
Central to Harnois's project is the exploration of "openings"—points of entry and exit that defy singular intent or consequence. These liminal zones, which she likens to "the mouth of the wind," encapsulate the dual nature of space as both an invitation and a trap. Through sculptural installations and performative gestures, Harnois crafts environments that feel simultaneously engulfing and elusive. The shifting boundaries between the self and the other, the tactile and the ephemeral, are rendered with a sharp yet poetic ambivalence, urging the audience to navigate their own thresholds of comfort and surrender.
What emerges is a choreography of risk—a delicate balancing act between seduction and release. Harnois’s work suggests that spatial engagement is never neutral; it is laden with affective charge, power dynamics, and the potential for transformation. Her pieces do not merely occupy space but reconfigure it, challenging the viewer to confront the underlying tensions that govern presence, touch, and exchange.
Through its interplay of allure and ambiguity, Não Faz Mal transforms Galeria Foco into a site of both enchantment and unease, where the encounter with space becomes an act of surrender to its mutable, affective depths.
